


Stories Through the Years

by Ikikuka



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-04-28 03:03:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14440080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikikuka/pseuds/Ikikuka
Summary: Short, and sometimes a little bit longer, stories from Finland's and Sweden's past to this day. Through the best and worst of what is to come.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated for M only because I'm not sure yet how their relationship will progress. So nothing in this chapter.

The monster stared at him with its multiple ugly pinecone-like eyes. Its green spiky fur was sticking in all directions, it was taller than any man from the town. It oozed poisonous slime, if you touched it you turned into a monster too and wanted to gobble up all the people from the town like if they were a delicious portion of porridge. But he wasn’t afraid, he had his trusted sword and he knew all the right moves. He was ready, the monster would meet its end today and the people in town would be safe.

Or was he really ready?

The young boy hesitated for a moment and glanced then at the sword in his right hand. Maybe he should make sure he wouldn’t make any mistakes, there was a lot at stake here. He took a step back, then another one, keeping his eyes firmly on the monster, and when reached a suitable distance, he rushed away from it. 

He ran through the bushes, jumping over some tree roots and rocks while following the familiar forest path until he reached the nearby meadow. In the middle of it was a boy. The boy was a little bit older than him, his blond hair looked always messy and his gaze was tougher than you would expect from someone of his age. In his hand he had a sword, a real sword, not just a wooden stick like he had.

The sun was already shining hotly on this beautiful summer day, but the older boy just ignored it even though his shirt was already wet from sweating. He stood there his feet apart, leaning his other foot slightly forward. Then, suddenly, he attacked fiercely against an invisible enemy, only to return back to his starting position, over and over again. 

He followed the boy with his eyes, hiding behind a spruce tree. He tried to stand in the same stance as the older boy, but he moved so fast it was hard to know how he should hold the stick-sword when he was busy observing the boy’s feet. He tried to imitate his attack, waving the stick-sword in the air as fast as he could, only to stumble over his own feet, trying his best to stay in a standing position by grabbing a hold of the tree trunk.  
Slime! He got slime in his hands! And his sword, he dropped it, how he would know which one of those sticks was his sword now? Annoyed by his failure, he didn’t notice that the older boy had stopped his exercise and walked now towards his hiding place.

“What are ya doin’ here, Valentino?”

“Berward! I got slimed, I don’t want to eat everyone!” he cried, looking at his hands, trying to hold back tears. 

“It’s resin.” Berward glanced briefly down at his hands and turned then around to return to the meadow. 

“I know… I just tried to get you to play with me. You used to like to fight the tree monsters.” he sniffed, and after considering a moment hurried after Berward.

“I told ya to stay at home, ya aren’t healthy yet.” Berward changed the subject and took the correct starting position once again. Valentino sat down on the ground to watch him and to pluck tree needles and gravel from his bare feet.

“I’m feeling better already. I just got bored alone and wanted to do something. They don’t need my help in the fields.” In reality the burns on his arms still stung and the sun did not help, but not so much that he would have stayed inside when the weather was so beautiful.

“Why ya didn’t go to the town. There are other kids.”

“I don’t want to.” Valentino pouted “Kids I used to play with are already teens. All they talk about is girls… or boys. How Auni looked so good today and how she’s hardworking, too. Yuck! Then they get engaged, hang out only together, do a lot of mushy stuff and forget about me. And then, someday, they will just sleep forever and you will never see them again. That always happens, every single time.”

“Hm.” Berward just nodded his head, looking thoughtful. He never talked much unless Valentino kept talking to him, but he was already used to it. He couldn’t remember how long he had already lived with the boy. One day he had just brought him to his home and they had been together ever since, living here and there, moving sometimes even long distances. Berward didn’t feel like telling him the details, even though he had been his current age for a longer time than Tino had been this age.

“Can I play what you are playing?” He asked from Berward. Berward came here with his sword every day now, he had been doing this ever since they had been attacked by the neighboring country who lived east of them. Nothing unusual about it, there were always a lot of skirmishes, but Valentino had hurt himself a bit worse than usually during the latest attack. Nobody was sure anymore who had originally started the hostilities and why, but the fighting seemed to continue from time-to-time. People said it had become even worse after Berward had taken Valentino to live with him and when the two similar but still so different religions had come too close to each other.

“I’m not playin’!” Berward snapped, stopping what he was doing. He stared at him with angry looking eyes, making Valentino startle from the sudden outburst “I’m already too old to play childish games!”

At first, Valentino didn’t know what to say. He didn’t understand what had made Berward so angry, he didn’t usually raise his voice to him, or to anyone for the matter of fact, but he had been strangely cranky lately. Valentino was feeling hurt, and for a moment he considered running away and hiding forever from him, but then something dawned on him. He pointed Berward with his finger, looking horrified.

“Have you grown big and found a girl? Will you sleep forever soon, too?” 

Berward blinked his eyes a few times and then frowned, the question seemed to confuse him. “No. And I’m not goin’ anywhere. We will be t’gether forever.” He finally answered with a determined voice, nodding to mainly himself, making Valentino sigh from relief.

“But I pr’mised to the Pope to keep ya safe and protect your people’s new faith and I _failed_. No time for playn’ anymore.” 

“You mean that old man who gave me my new human name when I was baptized, right? Why didn’t he give me a normal name, like Väinö or Kalervo? Nobody around here is called Valentino.”  
Valentino complained, but not very seriously. He didn’t remember much about his early childhood, or how he had ended up with Berward, so he didn’t bother to be really annoyed about something he didn’t even remember, maybe the man had liked the weird name. Besides, Berward had comforted him by saying that his own name wasn’t common at all among his people either. If someone made fun of them because of their names, they could rely on each other. 

“That’s him.” Berward confirmed and stretched his arms, he was getting himself ready for the next training session “I want to be able to pr’tect the kingdom and be stronger than anyone else.” 

Valentino could have sworn that he heard Berward to continue to mumble “Especially stronger than that spiky-haired blockhead.” but he couldn’t say for sure. He didn’t remember seeing anyone with spiky-hair.

“Should I train more then, too? Aren’t we a team?” 

He asked, but his attention was already elsewhere. He had just spotted a weird beetle that had a wing-like gray pattern on its back and followed it slowly through the grass. Maybe it would return to its family and Valentino would see hundreds of them, all crawling around with different patterns on their backs. He was sure that the old Berward would have thought it was coolest think they had seen for a while. 

Berward looked thoughtful for a moment, maybe even a little bit sad. “It's my responsibility n’w, I don’t want ya to get hurt again.”

“I have survived until now!” Valentino protested and almost jumped up from the ground, he would find the beetle later. “Look! Of course it hurt, but every burn has already healed, as fast as usually. You don’t need to worry so much, we are almost invincible… unless we get all mushy, that’s the certain way to final death.” He spread his hands so Berward could see better.

Berward tilted his head a little and his mouth opened wide open. For a moment he just stared at him and then asked “How can ya look like that?”

Valentino started to beam. At first he thought Berward was complimenting his fast healing. For some reason, usually Berward was the one who recovered from everything first, but now he had managed to impress even him. Then he noticed that the expression on his face was anything but impressed. He looked down, trying to see what Berward was seeing.

The whole front of his shirt was full of tree needles and grass and who knows what those other particles were. They were also sticking from his arms and palms. Their current caretaker would be so mad at him when she would see this.

“Monster ooze, I told you I got slimed. There is no turning back now,” Valentino sighed, shut his eyes and shook his head slowly “Or just resin that is really sticky.” He corrected when he remembered that Berward thought he was already so old he didn’t want to play anymore. The mere thought made him want to sulk.

Berward scratched his head, observing the sad looking Valentino and looked then at his sword. Then he shrugged, and it almost looked like a smile would have touched the corners of his mouth briefly. Valentino wondered what he had on his mind when he sheathed his sword and put it carefully next to a big stone before he stood up and turned to look at him again.

“Do ya want to hear a s’cret?” 

“Secret?”

“There is a lake that can reverse the monster c’rse.” Berward almost whispered, making Valentino’s eyes widen from amazement.

“But I thought you were busy being a responsible adult?”

“I guess I can still be a kid d’ring breaks.” 

“But!” He continued before Valentino was able say or do anything yet “The magic of the lake will be d’stroyed after it has purified one person.” He lifted his finger up to emphasize the importance of the matter to Valentino.

“Only one…” Valentino repeated, paying all the attention to what Berward was telling to him “What are we waiting for then?” 

“I don’t know…” Berward said, pretending to be thinking something important “I think this shirt could also need s’me purifying…” He stretched his own, sweaty shirt and sprinted then away as fast as he was able to run.

“The first one there gets the pr’ze!” He yelled to Valentino who I realized the situation a bit too late.

“Hey! Unfair! You got a head start! And I need the lake more than you do!” 

He screamed back and ran then after him, laughing while doing so. He was happy that the old Berward was still around and would hopefully still be for some time before that other Berward would take over completely.


	2. Chapter 2

Their new house was incredible, he had never lived in such a big house before. He couldn’t but wonder how many logs had been used to made it, but its size wasn’t the most remarkable thing about it. It had a real chimney, stone flooring and a window that was made of an ice-like substance you were able to see through without opening it first. It didn’t melt even though the weather was still quite pleasant, it didn’t even feel cold!

Unfortunately, it got dirty if you made different tests to it, like if you, let’s just say, licked it once to make sure it wasn’t ice after all. He needed to do something about it before Berward would notice it. It had been really expensive, it was given to them only because this was a special occasion. 

He opened the door and kept it open by leaning on it while he lifted a wooden stool from the ground and carried it in. He placed it near the three similar-looking, shaky seats Berward had made just for this house. After Berward would finish building their table and they would get some rugs to protect them from cold, this place would start to feel like a real home. The only thing that made him feel a little uncertain was the fact that Berward and he wouldn’t live here together.

The house was sized for four people. A large oven dominated the main room, it was meant for cooking and heating the rooms and water for weekly Saturday bathing, especially during winters when you couldn’t do it in the nearby river. In addition to the main room which had almost all the necessities, there were two smaller rooms for sleeping. The other residents of the house were supposed to arrive only tomorrow. 

That’s why he got surprised when someone knocked the door steadily three times. Before he was able to do anything, the door was knocked three times again, but much weaker this time, he was barely able to hear it. He moved to open it, carefully, because he knew it couldn’t be Berward. Berward wouldn’t knock because he knew the door was open, and even if he did, he wouldn’t get so weak in the middle of knocking a door.

Behind the front door stood a youngster wearing a dark blue doublet and a diverted skirt of the same color. His eyes looked at him, but for some reason it felt as though he had looked straight through him, without registering him at all. Something about the slim and elegant stranger reminded him of fairies, even though he didn’t even believe in such creatures anymore. At least he tried not to believe.

“Mr. Norway?” he asked, at least he fit the description and there was something familiar about him. 

“Yes,” he nodded his head “Our ride arrived ahead of schedule. I hope it doesn’t matter.”

“No, not at all. But Berward is still in the tool shed, he tries to build a table, but there is something wrong with its legs. The whole table is swaying and he’s trying to shorten them.” 

“And ya are Österlanden, I assume? Berward’s young province?” Norway asked, like really seeing him for the first time only now. 

“Uh… yes, some people still call me that.” 

“I see. But I guess we could use our human names now that we are going to live together, makes this whole thing a little bit less awkward.” he sighed “I’m Lukas. And just Lukas, no need to call me ‘mister’. It sounds so pretentious and makes me sound like a true gentleman… which I have never really been.” 

“Oh? Well… I’m Valentino, but people have started to shorten it to Tino, so you can do so as well.” he answered, wondering what Lukas had meant by that. He glanced briefly around, wondering what took Berward so long.

“Aren’t ya going to introduce me?” a tiny demanding voice peeped suddenly from somewhere, startling Tino. He looked around but couldn’t see anyone besides Lukas, who was now smiling tenderly for some reason.

“And this is,” Lukas said and gently pushed a small boy, who had been hiding behind his dress this whole time, next to him “My little brother Emil. Or you might know him better as Iceland. He usually stays alone on his island, but I thought it could be good for him to stay with other nations for some time. Maybe it would also help him to calm his way fiery temper.” 

Now Tino couldn’t help but smile; he wouldn’t be the youngest in the house anymore! After Berward’s growth spurt he had tried to grow faster too, but for some reason time seemed to go more slowly for him. The boy was so tiny! He was wearing similar clothes than his big brother and looked at Tino with a distrustful look on his face.

“Have you liked Sweden’s place this far?” Tino decided to ask, trying to win the boy’s trust by smiling happily to him.

“It’s nice, but not like home. Too many trees.” the little boy mumbled, still holding tightly from his big brother’s clothes.

“Too many trees? There are never too many trees… I know! I can take you for a nature trip someday, would you like that? We could climb trees and have fun together. Every kid should experience what it feels like to stumble into an ant-hill at least once in their lifetime!”

This made Emil glance at his brother pleadingly, but he just shook his head to him. Emil frowned and crossed his arms in front of him, almost shrieking his answer.

“Fine! That sounds like so much fun! Can’t wait.”

“Emil has a soul of an adventurer, just like his brother, he will love it.” Lukas said and ruffled Emil’s hair. Before Tino was able to point out that his words didn’t match with his reaction very well, Lukas continued “Now, if you could move just a little bit so that my friends can come in as well.”

“There is someone else?” Tino asked, surprised. He couldn’t see anyone else besides the two brothers, but because he hadn’t seen Emil just a moment ago either, he took a step back leaving the doorway empty. Lukas then beckoned someone to come in with a simple hand movement. After waiting for a moment, Lukas and Emil walked inside the house, past the very confused Tino. He looked back outside, but there wasn’t anyone, just trees that the setting sun dyed reddish.

“Did… did they change their mind?” he finally asked.

Emil, who had already started to look around the house, looked first at Tino and then at his brother. “Doesn’t he see them? That’s weird.”

“Not everyone can see trolls and fairies.” Lukas answered and then smirked at someone who was not visible to the naked eye. Emil, who had been very serious so far, giggled, making Tino wonder had the invisible creature just cracked a joke about him. If they even existed, maybe the brothers tried to fool him.

“If I do this,” Tino started and then grabbed the air with his hands “Can I catch one?”

“They are too fast for ya.” Lukas said and Emil pointed the corner with his finger “He is there. Ya can try.”

Lukas watched as Tino tried to chase the magical creatures while Emil acted as his eyes. Sometimes Emil pointed to the wrong place on purpose, like wanting to make sure that Tino didn’t really see them. Lukas turned around only when he heard a weird dragging sound behind him. It made also Tino and Emil stop their game.

“Ya two are e’rly.” Berward just said when he saw the duo. He was moving a large wooden board with him. If it was supposed to be their table, it had the shortest legs Tino had ever seen. 

“Berward.” Lukas just nodded his head to him. Berward had told to Tino that they had known each other since they had been just tiny, little seedlings of nations, but for some reason the atmosphere between them felt somewhat cautious. It was like they didn’t know how they should have behaved in each other's company.

They all helped Berward to put the table in place. It was almost at the floor level, seats around it looked ridiculously tall compared to it “I probably sh’rtened the legs too m’ch. But it kept swaying.”

They all stared at the table for a while, not knowing what to say, until Emil cut off the silence and tugged his brother’s sleeve, apparently deciding that he had seen enough “Can we go back home now?”

“This is our home now,” Lukas explained to him “It’s already been decided on a higher level.” Tino noticed that he exchanged glances with Berward when he said so “We will be stuck together for who knows how long, so it’s better to get used to the situation.”

“Hm.” Berward agreed “Have ya two eaten already? We didn’t except ya yet, so there are only l’ftovers.”

“We ate on the way here. But the journey was long and tiring, and Emil here is already past his bedtime.”

“I’m not tired!” Emil protested, but nobody listened to him.

“Come with me.” Tino encouraged and took his hand “I can show our bedroom to you.” Emil followed Tino, even though he still insisted that he wasn’t tired at all.

“You can choose which bed you want.” Tino promised when they arrived to the room “They are both pretty similar, but the one on the left is a bit softer. It’s also lower because Berward is still practicing his woodworking skills, but don’t tell that to him, I told him that it’s perfect.”

Emil looked at them both, thinking hard. After a few minutes, he walked over to the bed on the right side of the room. “That one? Are you sure?” Tino asked.

“Big brother would have chosen this bed, too. And I want to be just like big brother when I grow up.” the tiny boy assured and climbed on the bed. 

Tino sat on the other bed. “I can’t wait to show you places around here! You know, now that we all live together, you can think me as your other big brother if you want. I have never been anyone’s big brother, or any kind of brother for the matter of fact, so it would be so great!”

“No.” Emil blurted and glanced at him angrily “Nobody can become someone’s big brother just like that!”

“I was just asking.” Tino mumbled, starting to get ready for bed, too “Sorry, you are right. I don’t even know why you moved in with us in the first place… Berward just said that you will arrive and that was it.”

“Big brother and Berward formed a union.” Emil said while he sank his head on the pillow, yawning. Maybe he was tired, after all.

“Union? What’s that?” Tino wondered and pulled the blanket on himself.

“I’m not sure, but brother said it’s a little bit like what arranged marriage is to mortals, at least when only two countries unite, but not quite the same. They didn't have much to say in the matter, but at least they usually get along. And they have the same king now.”

“That sounds… so weird.” Tino answered, not knowing what else to say. He wasn’t sure what was weirder, this whole union -thing or the fact that Emil knew so much more about it than him. Different thoughts swirled in his mind. Just when he thought Emil had fallen asleep, he heard his voice again.

“Bedtime story.”

“What?”

“I need to hear a bedtime story. Usually brother tells it, but he’s not here. And if ya really want to be my big brother, ya need to perform the big brother tests first. And the test is a proper bedtime story.”

“I didn’t know that there was a big brother test!” So Emil was at least considering his request “What story you want to hear, I know a lot of stories about wolves and witches! And monsters living in the woods.” 

“Vikings.”

“What about them?”

“I want to hear a story about Vikings.”

“Why about them? I don’t know much about Vikings.” they were usually just a menace, even Tino was able to recall some unpleasant memories of them. 

“Big brother always tells me about Vikings.” Emil said with a voice that hinted that decent big brothers were able to tell stories about Vikings.

“Okay, okay, I will tell you about Vikings. I think there is at least one story I have probably heard from someone.” Tino bit his lips thoughtfully, trying to remember all the details before he started to tell the old tale to Emil.

“Once upon a time there was a tiny village. One day, the Vikings tried a surprise attack, but the villagers had already escaped with their valuables because people living by the coast had warned them by lighting huge bonfires. When the disappointed Vikings were returning back to their longboats, villagers who were waiting for them, hiding silently in the forest, ambushed them. Some of the Vikings survived, but the raising storm most likely sank their ship when they tried to escape. The end.”

He turned to look at Emil “So, what did you think?”

Emil looked back at him with a dissatisfied look on his tiny face. “It had a really bad ending. I don’t like stories like that.” he pulled the blanket over his head “Ya failed at the big brother test, tell a better story next time.”

“Seriously? You would have wanted the Vikings to win?” Tino tried to ask, but Emil stayed quiet. Berward had some seriously weird friends, he thought, before he turned to his side and tried to fall asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Berward watched the scenery pass by; evergreen forests, large lakes, fields that produced just enough grain to feed everybody if the weather was favorable and then even more forests. The only thing that broke the silence was the quiet clatter of their horse’s hooves, singing birds and Tino’s occasional chatter. Berward liked that. When Tino chatted about this and that, he was able to forget his current task at least for a moment.

“I think we are there soon,” Tino said and glanced around the surroundings, the expression on his face told Berward that he wasn’t happy about the situation either “Have you been there before?”

Berward nodded his head “I used to travel th’re often when I was younger. And ev’n further.” 

Tino was clearly waiting him to tell more about it, but he couldn’t remember the details very well anymore. Trading, raids, yes, there had been them both. He had traveled with his people far, far away from home, usually eastward and southeast while Lukas and Mathias were more specialized in the western direction. Adventures, they had called them adventures. What an innocent name for raiding.

But that was probably the reason why the boy that they were now traveling to meet seemed somehow familiar, and not only because they were constantly fighting against him. He glanced briefly at Tino. Maybe he shouldn’t have taken Tino with him, but there lived a quite lot of people who talked a similar language than his scattered tribes and he had thought that he could need an interpreter. Mortals didn’t talk the universal language of nations, after all.

“I don’t like this very much. How do you talk to someone whose stuff you have stolen for years and who has burned your town down at least once? Hi! Those were some pretty impressive flames! Or do we both need to pretend it never happened?” Tino sighed after it become clear that Berward wouldn’t continue his story.

“That’s how it usually goes if ya want to m’ke peace with someone. Forget the past.” 

At least he thought it would go like that. He was in a union with Norway now, and even though Lukas didn’t want to have anything to do with the dispute between Berward and Novgorod – mainly because Lukas argued constantly about the northern borders with Novgorod as well and he had his own worries – Berward had more power behind him now. They would need to respect each other if they wanted to make peace, and getting a chance to grow in peace was the most important thing right now if he wanted to become a stronger country.

For the rest of the journey, they traveled in silence. Tino looked like he had sunk into some deep inner thoughts, and the silence made Berward repeat the plan inside his head over and over again. Something went always wrong, and he needed to start from the beginning. He was almost glad when he saw the huge lake where they were told to arrive, the real situation would most likely go more smoothly. It usually did. 

Two sturdy-looking men were waiting for them on the shore of the lake. They started to walk towards Tino and him as soon as they jumped out of the carriage, keeping their gazes fixed on Berward. He stared straight back at them, trying to seem self-confident and maybe a little bit threatening. Most likely in vain, as to them he looked like a pre-teen who thought too much of himself, not like a being that was much older than they could even imagine. Then again, their own nation was so scattered he looked even younger.

“Kingdom of Sweden?” The one with a thick beard asked from him in Low German, completely ignoring Tino’s presence. Berward just nodded his head. Then the man pointed at Berward’s sword and motioned with his hands to give it to them.

“He wants us to g’ve our weaponst to them.” Berward translated the language to Tino, moving his hand instinctively on the hilt.

“Is that wise? Wouldn’t that make us completely defenseless? What if these men are only robbers and don’t even work for Novgorod? What if they capture us and sell us to slavery.” Tino whispered back, glancing nervously at the stoic men while doing so “Maybe we should try to knock them out?”

“Th’y knew who I am. And if this is a trap, one sw’rd wouldn’t help us anyway.” Berward started to remove the scabbard from his belt. He was almost sure Novgorod just wanted to show him that when he was here, he needed to obey his rules.

“I know, but carrying something sharp with you makes you feel much more confident when you are in an enemy territory…”

Berward handed out his sword to the man with a thick beard and Tino did the same with his tiny knife. The man just looked at it first, but then decided to confiscate it too. Then he pointed at a rowing boat that had already seen its best days. The meeting place was on an island, but it almost looked like Novgorod wanted them to end at the bottom of the lake.

“We want to get our weapons back when we return. Take c’re of the horse.” Berward commanded the two men before he walked to the boat with Tino, one of them just snorted to him in response. 

Tino climbed on the boat and started to look for oars while Berward pushed it to the water and jumped also on board. Like he had thought, the boat leaked already a little bit.

“I will row.” Berward announced and took the pair of oars from Tino “Just say if ya st’rt to feel seasick.” He teased his province. Tino’s specialization were thick forests, he was able to move quietly like a ghost in them, but water was Berward’s strongest element. At least he wanted to think so. He started to row. 

“Silly! You can’t get seasick on a lake!” Tino giggled at him. 

Berward liked to get Tino to laugh. When he had been a baby and still lived with Mathias and Lukas, Mathias had been the jokester of the trio and everybody had thought that Berward was always the serious one along with Lukas. And too often Berward had been the target of his jokes. It was easy to make Tino to smile.

“Is that the island? The one with a fortress?” Tino asked suddenly and pointed his finger at the right direction.

Berward nodded his head at him. Novgorod had wanted to meet him here, in a very remote location. He hoped it wasn’t a trap when he rowed their boat ashore. He started to walk towards the fortress after he made sure that Tino was still following him. The local residents of the fortress stayed far away from them, but the look on their faces didn’t look very friendly. 

“You are right in time!” A small, chubby-looking boy with silvery hair greeted them at the gate of the fortress and clapped his hands. Tino, who had become serious again after they had arrived on the island, looked at him carefully. Berward understood why; they were usually fighting against Novgorod and it was rare to see him from so close. He looked surprisingly harmless and small, actually a little bit like Tino.

“I’m sorry that I made those two thugs to take your weapons away, but you have tried to pierce me with your sword before. I didn’t like that.” Novgorod explained when he led them further into the fortress and then inside a house.

“Hm, that’s und’rstandable.” Berward agreed. It was a nasty feeling indeed. He hoped he would not need to feel it today. This place didn’t look like a trap, but he decided to stay alert nevertheless. 

“What are these?” Tino’s curious voice suddenly filled the room. He looked at the frames on the table.

“My collection of shells.” Novgorod answered with a pride in his voice. “I like to collect different things! When I’m here I try to find new ones from the lake for my collection.”

“They are so pretty!” 

“You think so? I can show my pinecone collection to you if you want.”

“You have a collection of pinecones? So cool…!” 

“Maybe it would be better to st’rt the meeting.” Berward interrupted, otherwise they would be here still in the morning. Tino had clearly forgotten already that they were supposed to be cautious when they were here, he was sometimes too naïve for his own good.

“Ah, maybe I got carried away, I don’t have guests very often, hardly ever, actually” Novgorod chuckled and urged Berward and Tino to sit down. “I hope that my best friend will have time to come to see my collection at some point. He’s so funny, you should see his face!” 

“Is he always busy?” Tino asked.

“I guess so, but the biggest reason why he doesn’t visit me is because he doesn’t yet know that he’s going to be my best friend. He lives south from here, a boy with a long brown hair and green eyes? Do you know him?” 

Tino wasn’t sure so he shook his head and Berward stared at the weird boy. He decided not to answer. “Can ya make decisions on yo’r own?” he asked instead.

For a moment Novgorod’s innocent expression darkened. He opened a map and put it on a table, and for a moment Berward was sure that he wasn’t going to answer to the question. 

“I can decide what happens in Novgorod, but otherwise master Mongolia sets the rules. Did you remind me of him on purpose? This is my only safe place and I don’t want to remember him while I am here. You are mean.” The youngster accused.

“I needed to kn’w can ya decide about the new border.” 

“What new border?” Tino looked at the map and then at Berward with a worried expression on his face. Berward had told to him that he would try to negotiate peace between them and Novgorod, but he hadn’t exactly told to him that there would be a new permanent border. 

“Don’t worry, ya will stay with me.” Berward assured.

“Unless we accidentally draw the border too much on the west.” Novgorod joked, but Berward didn’t find it funny. He took the quill and looked at the map for a while. There had never been a clear border, so he wasn’t sure how much he could leave to Novgorod without hurting Tino. He drew a line with ink on the map and looked at Novgorod questioningly. He shook his head and took the quill from Berward’s hand.

“I thought something like this.” Novgorod said and drew a new line over Berward’s line, making Tino to bite his lip. There was no way Berward would surrender so much land to him. If they wouldn’t have needed peace so desperately, he would have walked out of here right now without any contracts. He snatched the quill from Novgorod, small droplets of ink fell on the table and on the map.

“How about a compr’mise?” Berward asked and draw a line between his and Novgorod’s line. The map started to be really dirty from ink, they would need a new one if Novgorod wouldn’t be happy with this solution either.

“At least it looks better than your first border… not that I’m completely happy with this new one either…” 

“N’ither am I.”

Novgorod walked around the table, looking at the map from all directions before he extended his hand to Berward.

“I’m ready for permanent peace with you if you are.”

Berward got up from his chair to shake his hand. Tino frowned and continued to draw angry-looking creatures - Berward was quite sure they were supposed to be birds - with his finger on the edge of the map. He would understand this eventually. His people were used to roam freely here and there, but the permanent border would calm the situation down between them and Novgorod. He and Tino would both grow stronger and soon they would not need to accept any compromises anymore.

“Who will keep the treaty?” Novgorod asked and looked at the messy paper.

“I don’t need it, I will remember wh’t I drew the border.” 

Novgorod nodded his head and rolled the map upon itself. Berward wondered should they have waited for the ink to dry out first, but just shrugged then.

“Let’s go h’me, Tino.”

“Are you leaving already?” Novgorod looked at them and blinked his eyes, confused “Shouldn’t we celebrate the peace first? I like to have company.”

“We are in a h’rry.” Berward answered, even though Tino looked like he would really have wanted to see the pinecone collection. He took hold of Tino’s hand and led him to the door. But when he tried the handle, the door was securely locked.

“Hey, what’s th’s?” he turned around to face Novgorod, an angry expression on his face “Listen. I t’ld to Norway that we would be b’ck within a few weeks. If we don’t, he will alert my s’ldiers!”

“Boring!” Novgorod just grinned at him mischievously “But also pretty clever, I give you that. I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me, so it just goes.” Novgorod put his hand in his pocket and took out a key “But it was just a security measure, we didn’t want anyone to come to bother us in the middle of the meeting, right?”

He opened the door for them. Berward wondered had he been a bit paranoid, that was a reasonable explanation for the locked door. 

But why had he told that only after he had already tried the handle and told about his back up plan?


End file.
